1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances for house plants, and particularly to an automatic watering pot for supplying water to a potted plant automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
Potted plants are valued for their aesthetic appearance, their fragrance, and occasionally for their ability to freshen the air by producing oxygen from carbon dioxide. While potted plants require low maintenance, some varieties do require frequent watering and the administration of water soluble plant food or soil nutrients. A problem may arise if the plant owner takes an extended vacation and is unavailable to provide the plant with personal attention.
A related problem concerns proper watering of the plant. While plants must receive sufficient water, they should not be overwatered, as the plants roots need air in order for the plant to survive. With some potted plants, it may be difficult to tell by sight or by touch whether the plant is receiving enough, or too much, water. For these reasons, a device which senses the moisture condition of the soil and automatically dispenses water, which may be mixed with a water soluble plant food or soil nutrients, from a water reservoir is desirable. A variety of devices have been proposed to address these problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,940,044, issued Dec. 19, 1933 to E. Brandt, describes a flower pot having a double wall, a water compartment being disposed between the walls, a wick in the bottom of the compartment, and a plurality of holes at the base of the inner wall so that water is transported from the compartment, through the wick, and into the pot. U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,807, issued Dec. 25, 1962 to B. T. Wall, teaches a watering device using both siphon and capillary action, which has a U-shaped tube with one end extending into a container outside of the pot and the other end extending into the soil inside the pot, the tube being perforated below the level of the soil. The tube is filled with water to sustain capillary action, and siphons when the water level in the container is above the perforations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,951, issued Sept. 26, 1978 to Becker, et al., shows a device having a perforated soil probe integrated with a water reservoir, the probe adapted to hang over the edge of the pot, with a wick extending from the bottom of the reservoir to the tip of the probe. U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,762, issued Sept. 24, 1985 to B. M. Littlehale, describes a complicated water dispensing apparatus for irrigation with a reservoir, a water outlet, an intermediate container, an air space container, an overflow tube, a feedback loop, and an inverted conical funnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,155, issued Apr. 10, 1979 to D. J. Allen, discloses a device for hydroponic plants with a reservoir having a water outlet tube enclosed in a standpipe which penetrates an inert growing medium, the outlet tube spaced apart from the mouth of the standpipe by a fixed distance, with an air vent penetrating the standpipe at the upper end of the standpipe. U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,897, issued Apr. 1, 1986 to Pazar, et al., teaches a water reservoir in the form of a plastic bottle having a shoulder about its mouth, an orifice defined in the shoulder, and a plastic tube having its end cut at an angle, the bottle being inverted and the tube penetrating the soil, so that when the water level is below the end of the tube, air enters the reservoir and forces water out of the orifice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,529, issued Mar. 31, 1987 to G. W. Freeman, shows a plant watering device including a tray divided into two compartments by a partition wall, the reservoir being disposed in one compartment and the flower pot in the other compartment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,709, issued May 16, 1989 to R. Centafanti, describes a flower pot which fits into a reservoir, having a wick disposed inside a tube extending from the reservoir into the pot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,626, issued Mar. 24, 1992 to Y. Mordoch, shows a watering device with an annular water reservoir which rests on top of the soil in the pot, and has a dryness sensor penetrating the soil which opens and closes a water outlet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,787, issued May 31, 1994 to Schleicher, et al., teaches a battery operated centrifugal pump placed in a water reservoir coupled to a moisture sensor in the soil, the sensor being two spaced apart electrodes. When the moisture drops below a predetermined level, the moisture sensor switches the centrifugal pump on through a transistor circuit to supply water to the pot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,122, issued Jun. 6, 1995 to O. Hyndman, discloses a water reservoir with a flange used to suspend the reservoir over the top of a flower pot. The device includes a manually operated metered valve with a thumbscrew at the base of the reservoir. U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,198, issued Jun. 20, 1995 to G. R. Coy, describes a watering device having a tray with ribs on its floor. The flower pot is placed in the tray together with an inverted water bottle which is raised above the floor of the tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,701, issued Oct. 29, 1996 to J. C. Haigler, describes a water bottle with a conical neck, a capillary tube sealed in the neck, and a cap disposed over the capillary tube, the cap having a score line so that the cap can be broken away. The bottle is inverted with the capillary tube inserted into the soil just above the plant roots. U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,240, issued Sept. 15, 1998 to P. Racine, shows a water cylinder mounted on a support having a stake with wings to anchor the support in the soil, the support having a flexible tube leading to the soil and a screw which compresses the tube against a stop to control the drip rate.
U.K. Patent No. 147,851, published Apr. 10, 1969, describes a pot with double walls, water being disposed in a chamber defined by the double walls, and a plurality of orifices in the inner wall through which wicks communicate with the water chamber. United Kingdom Patent No. 1,598,198, published Sept. 16, 1981, describes a similar device with more orifices described in the upper portion of the pot than the lower to provide the upper portion of the soil with more moisture.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a automatic watering pot solving the aforementioned problems is desired.